
Except for their greenand-
White uniform, the three buses sitting in the courtyard at the TTC summit on Friday did not look much different from the rest of the Board fleet.
But for China's largest transport organization, the vehicles could represent the beginning of a green revolution.
This is the case with the trio.
Called "battery electric" bus, powered only by Lithiumion batteries.
TTC plans to buy 30 cars this year, the first time it has ever purchased the technology.
The acquisition will be the first step for TTC to achieve its emissions-only target --
Free bus starting in 2025, fully discharged
Get free fleet by 2040.
"We are ahead and helping lead the North American transit industry to zero
"Emissions buses," said Bem Case, head of the TTC vehicle project . ".
"It's exciting to be part of this emerging trend.
According to the TTC report released on last November, only about 200 battery electric buses are in use throughout North America.
Each of the three vehicles shown at TTC field is made by a different manufacturer.
The agency plans to purchase at least 10 units from each company and test which model is best suited to determine the way to purchase larger orders in the future.
The three selected companies are Chinese manufacturer BYD, which has produced thousands of electric vehicles;
New flyers in Winnipeg
Coach, a California-based company and Proterra, a California-based company, has a former Tesla executive as CEO.
BYD and the new wings are made up of batteries, Case said.
The power system installed in the traditional bus frame, Proterra designed its vehicle from scratch.
"They took a blank sheet of paper and said, what should the electric bus look like? ” he said.
TTC hotels buses may not be the exact model that the agency will eventually buy, but they are taken to Toronto to familiarize operators and other employees with the technology.
TTC is expected to receive the first electric bus by the end of this year and start on the road in 2019.
In June, the agency plans to ask the TTC committee to authorize the purchase of another 30 buses sometime next year.
The 60 vehicles cost a total of $0. 14 billion, including infrastructure charges for at least three TTC garages.
The cost is roughly split between the city and the federal government, $10-
Millions of donations from the province
Case says cost-
Sharing limits the financial risk of TTC if the vehicle is unreliable.
To test the performance of the vehicle, TTC will identify about 30 routes that broadly represent the entire network in terms of terrain, distance and passenger flow, running three types of electric buses on each of them, this is equivalent to a head --to-
Head race.
Buses should be able to run about 250 kilometers on a single charge, and TTC will monitor if they are running the way they are advertised.
In addition to their breakthrough technology, buses will also be evaluated based on features such as doors and HVAC systems, which are described as the "number one reliability killer" on any vehicle ".
Once the TTC passengers are put into use, the buses can be seen as they will be covered in special packaging.
Electric cars are also notable because they are almost silent.
The agency requires manufacturers to install noise generators for safety reasons.
In addition to improving local air quality and contributing environmental benefits to the global response to climate change, electric bus projects can also generate economic benefits.
According to the case, TTC fleet consisting of about 2,000 diesel
Electric hybrids "clean diesel" and traditional diesel buses consume 90 million litres of fuel each year.
Replacing them with battery electric buses can save about $90 million a year on fuel costs.
Mayor John Tolley is expected to visit the three buses at an event in etobock on Saturday, he said the bus is "a long-term innovation and climate change plan for how we modernize our services . . . . . .